Vol. 19, No. 2, 2011

Inside this Issue:

Let’s Get Healthy! Hosts Curricu-lum Development Workshop for Oregon Teachers...........................3

OR-FACE Releases 2008 Annual Report............................................3

Safety in Transportation.............4

Let’s Get Healthy! Partners with Asian Health and Services Cen-ter....................................................4

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CROET Awarded New Center of Excellence Grant

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has awarded CROET a ($1.02M) Center of Excellence grant, which will fund the new Oregon Healthy WorkForce Center (ORhwc). The ORhwc’s primary theme is Intervention Effectiveness, which focuses on providing integrated safety and health protection and health promotion interventions in Or-egon workplaces. The funding is unique in that it addresses total worker health in single programs — traditionally, safety protection and health promotion have been administered in separate, unrelated programs. The Center’s projects will con-centrate on: 1) team-based and technolo-gy-based interventions to promote and protect health, all crafted with attention to translating research into practice; and 2) improved social support and reduced job stress, which will in

turn will produce improved lifestyle choices, safer work practices, and better psychological and physical health.

The ORhwc is a collaboration of CROET, Portland State University’s (PSU) Occupational Health Psy-chology (OHP) program, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (CHR) and the Univer-sity of Oregon’s Labor Education Research Center (LERC). The ORhwc is headed by CROET Associate Director Dr. Kent Anger (Center PI) and Dr. Leslie Hammer, PSU Occupational Health Psychology Pro-gram Director (ORhwc Associate PI).

CROET ORhwc personnel (clockwise from top L): Brad Wipfli, Kent Anger, Fred Berman, Janice Stewart, Mike

Lasarev, Kendra Evans, Ryan Olson, Dede Montgomery and Diane Rohlman.

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PSU ORhwc personnel (L to R) Donald Truxillo, Leslie Hammer and Todd Bodner.

Three research projects are at the heart of the ORhwc:• Creating health and safety “Communities of Prac-tice” for Home Care workers (Ryan Olson, PI, CRO-ET)

a peer-led curriculum will be developed to or-- ganize home care workers into neighborhood- based WorkLife teams that provide education and social support for improving lifestyle (e.g., diet, exercise) and safety behaviors.

• Team-based WorkLife and safety intervention for construction workers (Leslie Hammer, PI, PSU)

supervisors will be trained in the use of a team-- based approach to support balance in employ-ee’s work-family demands, thus reducing stress and improving safety in City of Portland construc-tion workers.

• Health promotion intervention to reduce health risks among Correctional officers (Kerry Kuehl, PI, CHR, OHSU)

a team-based, peer-led approach and one-on-- one health coaching with motivational interview-ing will be employed to improve lifestyle (e.g., diet) choices in corrections workers.

Two translational projects will deliver proven training using communications technology: • Health promotion and health protection in young workers (Diane Rohlman, PI, CROET at OHSU)

internet-delivered training will be utilized to foster - healthy lifestyle choices and safe work practices among young summer workers in a Parks and

Recreation department. Information dissemina-tion will be enhanced using social media.

• Supervisor training to promote health/safety in construction (Latino+non-Latino) (Kent Anger, PI, CROET)

training in supervisory skills will be supported by - behavior tracking technology in Latino and non-Latino construction supervisors to motivate their employees to adopt healthier lifestyle choices and safer work practices.

The ORhwc will also sponsor Outreach and Educa-tion Programs that build on existing programs at OHSU/CROET, Portland State University and the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center (LERC). The Outreach program is led by Dede Montgomery (OHSU/CROET) and the Edu-cation program is led by Steve Hecker (UO/LERC). ORhwc Center Manager Kendra Evans is the point of contact for the Education pro-grams. Dan Austin sup-ports the website and symposia.

The ORhwc faculty consists of the PIs of the 5 proj-ects, Core Directors, and key people funded by the ORhwc projects. The staff are funded by the ORhwc and OHSU/CROET to support the Center.

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Nancy Perrin, ORhwc Design and Analysis Core Director.

Kerry Kuehl, PI, CHR, OHSU (back, row center) and OHSU Health Promotion & Sports Medicine personel.

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LERC ORhwc personnel Jennifer Hess, Steve Hecker and Deborah Mailander.

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Faculty: W. Kent Anger, PhD (Center Director; Project PI) Fred Berman, PhD Todd Bodner, PhD Diane Elliot, MD, FACP, FACSM (Director, Internal Steering Committee) Leslie B. Hammer, PhD (Center Associate Director; Project PI) Steve Hecker, MSPH Jennifer Hess, MPH, CD, PhD Kerry Kuehl, MD, DrPH (Project PI) Mike Lasarev, MS R. Stephen Lloyd, PhD (PI, Pilot Project program) Dede (Dorothy) Montgomery, CIH, MS (Outreach Director; co-Director, Education Project) Ryan Olson, PhD (Project PI) Nancy Perrin, PhD (Design and Analysis Core Director) Diane S. Rohlman, PhD (Project PI) Donald Truxillo, PhD Brad Wipfli, PhD

Staff: Kendra Evans, MPH (Center Manager) Maria Nash (Administrative Assistant) Lynne Rowell (Financial Analyst) Janice Stewart, BS (Financial Management)

To learn more about the ORhwc, visit http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/croet/oregon-healthy-workforce-center/

Oregon FACE Releases 2008 Annual Report on Workplace Fatalities

In 2008, Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation recorded 57 fatal occupational incidents, with 60 worker deaths.

The following notable trends occurred in 2008: • Violence was the second most common category of events in 2008, with 9 involving suicide, mostly related to financial crisis and family problems.

• A higher proportion of incidents than usual involved workers aged 45-64. Violence accounted for one-fourth of the incidents. All suicide victims were be-tween the ages of 48 to 58. Only one incident involved an older worker, aged 77.

• Transportation and contact events involving mobile machinery and heavy trucks were a principal source of fatal injury, including tractors and farm machinery, dump trucks, construction equipment, trailer rigs, a skidder, and an all-terrain vehicle.

Read more of the 2008 Annual Report, including haz-ard alerts, statistics, and abstracts detailing each event on our website: http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/croet/outreach/or-face/

To receive new investigative reports and other Oregon FACE publications, join our electronic mailing list. Ac-

cess our website for all previously released publi-cations and investigative reports.

Let’s Get Healthy! Hosts Curriculum Development Workshop for Oregon

Teachers

Let’s Get Healthy! is a health education and research program built around free, fun, and interactive health fairs. In July, Let’s Get Healthy! hosted an eight-day curriculum development workshop for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers. Six teachers from Oregon schools attended, representing language arts, social studies, math, and science. The teachers worked with Lisa Marriott (Associate Director, Let’s Get Healthy!) and Berk Moss (Chair, OSHU Teacher Advisory Committee) to develop lesson plans that meet state and national standards. These lessons encourage the use of data in the classroom, integrate Let’s Get Healthy! events into school curricula, and exhibit an interdisciplinary approach to public health and health education. Let’s Get Healthy! is very grate-ful for the opportunity to work with these teachers and to continue its partnership with regional schools!

Learn more about Let’s Get Healthy! at: http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/octri/current-projects/nutrition-world.cfm

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I spent my summer internship working under OR-FACE, the Oregon Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Pro-gram, sponsored by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). OR-FACE is a partnership be-tween CROET and the Oregon Public Health Division. For this internship, I explored the increased risks experienced by older transportation workers. With the help of Dr. Ryan Olson and Erika Zoller, I used national databases and Oregon occupational fatality cases to prepare the framework for my sum-mer research project, titled “Higher Occupational Fatality Rates among Older Transportation Workers: Hy-potheses to Explain the Risks for an Aging Workforce.”

In my preliminary analysis of Oregon and National data, I identified a significantly higher fatal-ity risk among transportation workers over age 65 when compared to their younger counterparts. Within Oregon, the prevalence ratio of fatalities to workforce size for work-ers 65 and older was roughly 3.5 times higher that that of workers aged 35 to 44 (the most prevalent age group in terms of employment) and about 2.75 times that of workers aged 45 to 54.

To investigate potential causes of this heightened risk, the OR-FACE team is testing four hypotheses using prior published research and Oregon Workers Compensation data. These hypotheses are that the increased fatality risk with age may be partly due to (1) Hazard Exposure: increased exposure of older adults to hazardous work

environments due to employment levels in certain high-risk occupations, (2) Organization of Work: differences in job design and work organization among small and larger employers, (3) Physical Fragility: aging workers are less likely to survive severe trau-matic injuries than younger counter-parts, and (4) Cognitive and Psycho-motor Changes: increased risk due to normative changes in cognition, psychomotor, and vision abilities at

later ages. I tackled some of the evidence for these hy-potheses in my poster and they will be further explored in a peer-reviewed paper that we are working on with Jaime Walters from the Oregon Public Health Division.Learn more about CROET’s Summer Intern Program at http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/croet/outreach/awards.cfm

Safety in Transportation: Increased risks for older workers?Justin Karr, graduate student in Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Victoria, describes his summer internship with OR-FACE.

Justin Karr presents his summer research.

On August 20, Let’s Get Healthy! was part of the 10th an-nual Asian Community Health Fair at the Asian Health & Service Center in Portland. Let’s Get Healthy! is excited about this new partnership with the Asian Health & Service Center! We had 203 people participate in the event, and we look forward to having even more next year.We showcased several exciting new additions to our exhibit: a comput-erized breast cancer module that assesses awareness, readiness to be screened, and obstacles to get-ting screened; educational blood chemistry handouts with information about glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides; and translations of all surveys and feedback materials into Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. Of the 203 participants, 78 went through in Chinese, 24 in Vietnamese, and 15 in Korean.Our most recent event was in Hermiston, OR, for the

annual Family Health & Fitness day on September 24. Let’s Get Healthy! is an education and research program

based out of CROET at OHSU that hosts free and fun health fairs in schools and communities. The exhibit includes many different stations: com-puterized surveys on diet, sleep, and cancer risk; body composition; blood pressure; blood chemistry; genetics; interactive diet and exercise exhibits; and Dance Dance Revolution. All sta-tions offer automated, tailored feed-back. Participants also receive a wrist-band that allows Let’s Get Healthy! to

collect data anonymously in a database that is available to schools, communities, and researchers. The program started in 2007, and now boasts holding or attending 28 fairs, with over 7000 participants, and over 350 volunteers!

If you are interested in learning more, visit our website at http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/octri/current-projects/nutrition-world.cfm or follow us on Facebook. You may also sign up as a volunteer using our online form.

Let’s Get Healthy! partners with Asian Health and Service CenterSubmitted by Adam Lipus, Program Coordinator, Let’s Get Healthy!

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DIRECTORS AND SCIENTISTS

INTERIM DIRECTOR AND SENIOR SCIENTIST

R. Stephen Lloyd, PhD

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND SENIOR SCIENTIST

W. Kent Anger, PhD

ASSISTANT DIRECTORS

Gregory Higgins, PhD Janice Stewart, BS

FACULTY

Charles Allen, PhD W. Kent Anger, PhD Gregory Higgins, PhD Doris Kretzschmar, PhD R. Stephen Lloyd, PhD Amanda McCullough, PhD Irina Minko, PhD Harvey Mohrenweiser, PhD Ryan Olson, PhD Bruce Patton, PhD D. Gary Rischitelli, MD, JD, MPH, FACOEM Diane Rohlman, PhD Jackilen Shannon, MPH, RD, PhD Peter Spencer, PhD, FRCPath Philippe Thuillier, PhD Daniel D. Tshala-Katumbay, MD, PhD Mitchell Turker, PhD, JD INVESTIGATORS

Robert Irwin, MD, MPH Elena Herrero-Hernandez, MD, PhD Mohammad Sabri, PhD (Emeritus)

SCIENTIFIC STAFF

Daniel Austin, MSFrederick Berman, DVM, PhDBonnie Bolkin, PhDKendra Evans, MPHPaige Farris, MSWDmytro Grygoryev, PhDAaron Jacobs, PhDRoman Kassa, PhDAnuradha Kumari, PhDNaima Laharjnar, Dip. PsychologyMike Lasarev, MSLisa Mariott, PhDMykhaylo Moldavan, PhDDede Montgomery, MS, CIHAmy Palma, RDHarini Sampath, PhDVladimir Vartanian, PhDBradley Wipfli, PhDErika Zoller, MS

How to Contact UsMAIL ADDRESS

CROET Oregon Health & Science University 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, L606 Portland, OR 97239-3098

Web site

http://www.ohsu.edu/croet/

TELEPHONE

Main CROET number (503) 494-4273 Facsimile (503) 494-4278 Toxicology Information Center (800) 457-8627

E-MAIL Toxicology Information Center croettic@ohsu.edu

You may share your comments regardingthis publication by calling (503) 494-7366,by e-mailing us at croetweb@ohsu.edu or byfaxing us at (503) 494-4278

CROET

CROET, the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at Oregon Health & Science University, conducts basic and applied re-search, provides consultations and offers information on workplace health and safety. CROET’s scientists and research staff explore a range of questions relating to health and the prevention of injury and disease in the workforce of Oregon and beyond. CROET’s Toxicology Information Center is open to the public and is staffed to answer Oregonians’ questions about hazardous substances in the workplace and elsewhere. CROETweb.com provides information about health and safety rel-evant to industries found in Oregon through links on a series of pages devoted to industry-specific topics.

Oregon Health & Science UniversityCROET, the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd., L606Portland, OR 97239-3098

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 722Portland, OR

Oregon Health & ScienceUniversity includes theSchools of Dentistry,

Medicine and Nursing;OHSU Hospital; numerousprimary care and specialtyclinics; multiple research

institutes and severaloutreach and public service

units. OHSU is an equalopportunity, affirmative

action institution.

OUTREACH

Join our monthly E-mail listJoin CROET’s e-mail list for monthly updates about additions to the CROET web site, news and upcoming events. To subscribe or read past updates, go to http://www.croetweb.com/newslet.cfm.

Southern Oregon Occupational Safety & Health ConferenceSmullin Center - Medford, Oregon

October 19-20, 2011

2011 Northwest Occupational Health ConferencePasco, WashingtonOctober 19-21, 2011

Western Pulp and Paper Workers Safety & Health ConferenceRed Lion Hotel on the River - Jantzen Beach - Portland, Oregon

November 29 - December 2, 2011

Oregon Workers’ Compensation Educational ConferenceNovember 9-10, 2011

Salem Conference Center